Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

     From Monday noon until Thursday noon all active priests of the diocese will be on convocation with Bishop Bambera  and Bishop Joseph Kopacz, retired bishop of Jacksonville, Mississippi and my Ordination classmate.  This is a mandated gathering annually so the Bishop may be in fraternal contact with his priests.  When I say “his priests” it is necessary to remember that at his Ordination a priest promises obedience and respect to his Bishop and all of his,i.e. the Bishop’s, successors.  A priest is never really his own man  but has a filial and fraternal bond to his bishop from whom he receives his authority and mission.

   Now that we have had a bit of a lesson on Ecclesiology (the study of the nature of the Church) let us turn our attention to today’s Word of God.

 A phrase bantered about frequently these days is “social justice”.  We hear it not only in secular circles but also from the Church.  There is a serious danger that these two different spheres may be lumped together as having the same understanding.  They do not.  The “this worldly” understanding of social justice revolves around a sense of fairness and  due rights.  Who, then, or what is the arbiter of fairness and rights?  In the secular realm the deliberation of these is in the purview of “who is in charge”.  Secular power determines what is fair,hence what is just.  Now there may be an ethical foundation formulated by philosophical principles but these are generally relative to prevailing “winds”.  In other words relative to time and place.  When the sands shift, so too does the foundation.   Therefore what was right and true in one era is anathema in  another. The cries for social justice then in the secular world are as fickle as can be.

    Contrarily, the Church’s understanding of social justice is based on unconditional love of God and love of neighbor.  This is the immovable foundation, the perennial Truth upon which we disciples of Christ affect social justice in the world.  The foundation of love elevates human beings.  It does not relegate them to something less as if they must be dependent on a “big brother” who will care for all their needs.  We have something greater than a big brother, man-factured, relativistic system.  We have God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who knows us better than we know ourselves, knowing the best for the needs we have, and supplies for them if only we place our trust in Him. He is the originator of social justice as expressed in the Scriptures we hear today.

With Blessings,

Father Langan